News

July 27, 2015| “When your mother and I moved to New Mexico, we determined we’d be different from those English outsiders," [Dad told us three siblings]. "We’d learn from native peoples here, people whose forebears were beaten for speaking their own languages and pressured by outsiders to ‘convert’ from their own religion/cultures.” So we three kids joined Mrs. White’s tiny after-school Spanish class at Montezuma School (it being impractical to find teachers of Tewa, Tiwa or Navajo). That was the first border I recall crossing. Read more »

July 20, 2015| The borders that we cross need not be another country, maybe they ought to be the borders that we impose on each other, judging them because of their race, their gender, their identity, their religion, their class. And while we might feel good about traveling to a foreign country to learn from another culture, we have even more responsibility to examine our own blinders even within our own community. Maybe the border we need to cross is the border between fear and hope, between courage and grace, between being right and being curious. Read more »

July 16, 2015| The following litany is from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference and written by Rev. Dr. Susan Smith in response to the number of Black churches burning around the United States. Read more »

July 11, 2015| APPLICATIONS DUE BY JULY 17! A small group of 6-8 persons who commit to serve in this working group will be selected to participate in BPFNA’s delegation to Ferguson. This delegation is in response to the national call issued by Ferguson Action for participation in a week of training, education, and direct action during the anniversary of Michael Brown’s murder. Read more »

July 8, 2015| We pray tonight to the God who stilled the storm. God, we bring before you our prayers of lament, prayers of petition, prayers of hope. The truth is, we feel like a small boat in the middle of a vast ocean, and the tempest is raging. Read more »

July 6, 2015| What do Ferguson, Belfast, Sarajevo, and Abuja have in common? As we studied the roots of conflict around the world, we began to see the role played by a complex interaction of many factors: history, both mythic and real; the illusion of single identity; governments, NGO’s, community groups, and individuals, functioning as either inciters or peacemakers. We were students in a year-long online Conflict Transformation program through St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas which concluded with two weeks at the Corrymeela Center in Northern Ireland. This Certificate program is the inspiration of Dr. Aaron Tyler, professor and Baptist pastor, and Dr. Larry Hufford, professor and long-time peace activist. One purpose of the program is to build a global network of peacemakers. Read more »

June 30, 2015| At its meeting in May 2015, the board of directors of BPFNA ~ Bautistas por la Paz approved a new application process for funding available through the Gavel Memorial World Peace Fund. The new process is designed to make it easier for partners within North America to apply and to make the decision-making process more consistent. Read more »

June 29, 2015| Shortly before his death my father told me he wished I would drop the final "e" in my name. It was too effeminate, he said. Why couldn't I tell him that I liked the ambiguity in my name, that I like the feminine in me? I couldn't, and never did. It would be still more years before I could own publicly my transgendering self, before I would come out as the cross-dresser I am, the cross-dresser I longed to be for many years. Read more »